What Merchants Need to Know About eCommerce Integration to Support an Omnichannel Strategy

Over the last few weeks, eBridge Connections has been highlighting key issues or milestones in eCommerce across several key states in the US.

In this blog we go to Minnesota.

One of our favourite things about Minnesota is that although it is vast, just about every city or town within it feels small and welcoming. Five Watt Coffee is a big success with a small feel in the Twin Cities. Handsome Cycles is another local, growing merchant proudly from Minneapolis that has a booming online presence.

After a bit of research, the main word in Minnesota is that omnichannel is no longer optional for retailers who want to grow their bottom line. Magically, many have kept the small town vibe, but have opened up their wings to support online shopping.

What is omnichannel?

Years ago, if you wanted to sell a vacuum, you’d strike a deal with Sears and beg to be on the shelves. Or you’d sell it door to door. Or you’d try your hand at getting your vacuum onto the Home Shopping Network. (I recently watched Joy, so The Shopping Network is on my mind)

That is a big percentage of retailers moving to suit the new world of online shoppers. Omnichannel is selling in-store and online. It can be selling to 5 retailers, or selling on your own webstore, and on Amazon. The key concept is that you are working multiple channels of purchase at once. Some customers shop online. Some shop in-store. Some use Amazon. Some search and buy on your website.

Omnichannel offers exposure and increases the chance that your product is in view when your prospect is ready to buy.

What channels?

We’ve gathered a list of the top 10 places to sell your goods. Add them. Delete them. Figure out which channels bring you sales.

Amazon

eBay

Shopify

Magento

WooCommerce

BigCommerce

Target

Walmart

Home Depot

Costco

How can eCommerce, EDI and ERP integration help merchants?

With discussion of selling over multiple channels naturally comes the discussion of system integration.
A customer order on Amazon creates data entry from Amazon into your accounting system. Data like SKU #, quantity, cost, colour, customer contact, invoice needs to get in quickly, and they need to be correct. Then, shipping numbers need to be sent, and inventory levels need to be adjusted across all of the many channels you are selling in. One less item in the warehouse impacts what you can sell in Home Depot, online on your Shopify store, and even on eBay, for example.

If you need help flowing order, customer or inventory data from the many channels you sell on to your accounting system, eBridge can help.

“Integration has saved us at least 10 hours a week on just the fulfillment side. This new process has helped streamline the way our orders are inputted into Sage 100, and our team couldn’t be happier with the automation.
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Kyle Brandt, Wilson Electronics

“Life at Char-Griller is better now with eBridge integration.”

Nicholas Williams, Char-Griller

“If your business is at a point where you are doing a lot of manual data entry and you need automate processes, I would definitely recommend looking at eBridge Connections. Now that we have an integration solution in place, I can’t imagine operating without it.”

Eric Marquardt, LifeCORE Fitness

“So far so good. We are happy to see this [ShipStation integration] process up and running.”

Jason Barnell, DroneNerds

“eBridge's team understood what we needed and helped us every step of the way. They were always available for whatever we needed as we developed our new systems and helped bring us from idea to implementation to real world application. I would like to say thank you to the entire eBridge family for all the time and effort they put in to help us achieve our goals and highly recommend them to any business that sells online.”